The painting is popularly called 'Madonna of the Long Neck' because 'the painter, in his eagerness to make the Holy Virgin look graceful and elegant, has given her a neck like that of a swan.' Jerome was required by the commissioner because of the saint's connection with the adoration of the Virgin Mary. In the lower right-hand corner of the painting is an enigmatic scene, with a row of marble columns and the emaciated figure of St. Six angels crowd together on the Madonna's right, adore the Christ-child. The painting depicts the Virgin Mary seated on a high pedestal in luxurious robes, holding a rather large baby Jesus on her lap.
Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany purchased it in 1698 and it has been on display at the Uffizi since 1948. The painting was begun in 1534 for the funerary chapel of Francesco Tagliaferri in Parma, but remained incomplete on Parmigianino's death in 1540. Painting by Parmigianino: Madonna with the Long Neck an Italian Mannerist oil painting depicting Madonna and Child with angels. It entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1929, where it is still held. It likely depicts a literary friend of the artist holding open a collection of poetry. Painting by Agnolo Bronzino: Portrait of a Young Man with a Book The Portrait of a Young Man with a Book is a c.1530s oil on board painting by Agnolo Bronzino.
